Concert Review: The Gin Blossoms

So, when I started trying to cover the previous concert, I meant to go in chronological order, and it never felt right until I covered the All-American Rejects first, and then once that was done I could write about the other bands.

I thought it might be this way again, and yet I wanted to listen to the Gin Blossoms for longer, and give writing about them more time than Ambrosia, so that’s why they were yesterday, and I find I still want to write more about the Gin Blossoms than this. Maybe I just have too much to say about them. After all, they were the concert I waited the longest for, and they have a unique place in my heart.

So, this post will just be about the concert weekend. It is pretty much taken from my letter to Aaron recapping it, with some editing for clarity, and to remove an anecdote that was already covered in another post. There will be another post where we cover everything else, my history, their discography, and any psychoanalysis and fashion tips that come to mind. It might be Monday, or I might change the end of next week, and put off the next concert for a week.

The concert was November 10^th at Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, Oregon. I had seen Cheap Trick at Chinook Winds, and it was disappointing, so I was suspicious of casino venues in general, but this one worked really well. I went with Jeana and Angela.

We checked into our room and met up and went to get dinner. They have a buffet, a deli, a sports bar, and a regular restaurant, and we did the restaurant. One thing that is important to realize is that there is nothing else in Grande Ronde, and the hotel, concert hall, restaurants, and casino are all one building, so I thought I might see some band members. You do not even know how true that ended up being.

While we were waiting for our check in the restaurant, Jesse Valenzuela, the guitarist, came walking out. I do not want to be a pest, so if he had made eye contact I would have said something, but he didn’t. Then, we were walking back to our room, and Robin Wilson, the lead singer, was talking to someone in the lobby.

Well, I didn’t want to interrupt, but I needed to run down for something else. (Actually, Jeana and Angie borrowed a corkscrew from the gift shop to open some wine. Since I was not going to drink any, I was happy to get another chance to see him and volunteered to return the corkscrew.) Okay, Robin was still talking, but as I was heading back the other guitarist, Scott Johnson, was also getting in the elevator, and we rode together!

I did talk to him. I asked him what floor, and told him that I was really looking forward to the show, and I may have gushed a little. Anyway, he said thanks, and at least I ended up not being the most psychotic fan there that night. I will say, it seems highly probably that there is some sort of directly proportional relationship between how socially awkward the fans are, and how much the music means to them.

Finally, it was time for the concert. Yes, Ambrosia was good, but I had not been waiting twenty years for them. We definitely clapped for Ambrosia, and I think we even got up a couple of times, and Jeana and I could not stay away from the stage. We started in our assigned seats, and then we moved towards the end of the row, and then we moved up to the stage. I mean, everyone else was doing it!

Robin was just great. He sounded good, he was energetic, and he had us all in the palm of his hand. Many cell phones were being used for pictures and video, and many of those were taken, and sung to, and held against his face. It was funny, but I have to say also that it is great showmanship. The phone owners will always remember that and it is the kind of thing that makes the fans love you forever.

Robin gave a round of high fives that I missed, and then later on he did it again, and he was just leaving before he got to me. I know I felt a wave of disappointment, and I guess he saw it. He definitely saw my hand there. He was in the wrong position for a five, so he tried to give me a fist bump, only it hit my palm instead of a fist, because I am awkward and slow on the uptake, but still, he touched me! I will never forget that.

Of course, the lead singer is the star, but also of course, I was paying attention to the others. Scott Johnson, from the elevator, was clearly having a good time too. It was harder to tell with Jesse and Bill Leen, the bass player. Jesse started really lightening up on “Till I Hear it From You”. He started smiling, and then he was joking with people in the crowd. Later on he and Robin shared some banter about how Portland is so much better than Seattle. In fact, Seattle is overrated. Portlandia Mayor would totally agree. I don’t think this was merely telling the crowd what they want to hear, because Robin backed this up by saying that he has gotten four of his tattoos in Portland, and none in Seattle, which is pretty specific.

Bill, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s that he was not enjoying himself; I just think he’s lower key. Actually, I suddenly realized there that if I had seen him in earlier I might not have known it, because he was not wearing a hat now, and he was always wearing hats before. That’s a bit of an exaggeration—he was not wearing a hat in the video for Till I Hear it from You, but there are also not very many shots of him in it, and most of them are from below the neck.

When they left the stage, we just kept clapping, we knew there had to be an encore. I was mentally going through what songs they had not played, and realized that they had not done “Follow You Down”, and I knew that they would come and play it, and they did. Victory!

I realize it is pretty much expected that the headliner will do an encore now, that maybe it’s an artificial construct, but it’s still so exhilarating when they do come back. I’ll take it! Then they covered a Replacements number, and then they really were done, but we were still exhilarated.

We were too wired to go to the room right away, plus we had been seeing people everywhere. We went to the sports bar, but it was kind of crowded, so we ended up at the deli, and this is where we saw the drummer, Scott Hessel. I had not been paying as much attention to him during the show, because he is new, and I really loved Phil Rhodes, but he was fine, and now I have to love him because I have seen him play and talked to him.

I went to tell him great show, and he was very nice and we chatted briefly. He said he was totally wiped, which I believe, but I said we appreciated it, and I asked if he had been here before, and he hadn’t (the rest of the band had), and that was cool.

So at this point I have spoken to both Scotts, had physical contact with Scott and Robin, and seen Jesse and had him walk right by me. This just left Bill.

As we were leaving the hotel the next morning, he was standing right out front. He was talking on the phone, so no contact again, but still, close proximity to the entire band! Great reason to stay overnight if you go to a show at Spirit Mountain. We walked by one of the Ambrosia guys too, but it just wasn’t the same. How could it be?

Obviously, there is more to write about them, but that was that weekend, and it was a good one.